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7 DAYS OF OSCARS: DAY ONE ~ “BEST FOREIGN FILM & BEST DOCUMENTARY”

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Well, Well, Well.. here we are!! At that time of year once again where I give a countdown of my top Oscar categories, hence the title “7 Days of Oscars” – This year I’m starting off gently, and I’ve added in two categories ~ Best Foreign Language Film & Best Documentary Feature ~ and I’m starting off with those two. I’m giving who I think the winner will be and what would be my pick – because they don’t always necessarily coincide with each other!! 😀

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Embrace of the Serpent
I did like this film as it was truly interesting to me. Not a pick though.

Mustang – MY PICK
Simply LOVED this film! By far, one of the best movies I saw this year period.

Son of Saul – WINNER
People seem to love this movie. As someone who was told many camp stories as a child by family members who had been in them, it rang very false to me. Didn’t really like the film at all.

Theeb
While this movie told a good story, I just didn’t gravitate towards it as much as I did others.

A War
This is the only one I haven’t seen yet, though I plan to this week as it’s the last one on my list to do so.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Quick note – Documentaries are never easy watches.. They are hard and quite depressing, though mostly eye-opening, they can be difficult to watch – this years picks are no different.

Amy – WINNER
Sad & Heartbreaking are just two of the words I would use to describe this doc on the life of Amy Winehouse. While showcasing how beautiful her voice was, it also shows how at times, some just can’t handle the trappings of fame that go along with a gift like this.

Cartel Land – MY PICK
This would actually be my pick for best documentary and while it has a chance at winning, Amy will probably be the one. This story is simply put and very straight-forward showing that even behind the good, there is bad. And it shows us all, it will never end.

The Look of Silence
Possible one of the hardest watches of the whole movie season for me. It might sound silly, but I even had to put down my popcorn I was so disturbed and more than one person left the screening. The true evil of people never fails to boggle ones mind.

What Happened, Miss Simone?
Well done portrait of Nina Simon’s life. While I wasn’t completely familiar with all her music as it was quite before my time, I knew who she was. The accounting of her struggle with mental illness & being banished by promoters for her support of the race struggles at the time is shown in some great footage.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
Also haven’t seen this one as I just couldn’t do three movies in a row on this day of screenings. It’s just too hard sometimes with the depressing nature of documentaries. I can only handle so much. I will see it this week tho.

3 thoughts on “7 DAYS OF OSCARS: DAY ONE ~ “BEST FOREIGN FILM & BEST DOCUMENTARY””

Great post and interesting picks 🙂 I have not seen any of the nominated Foreign films sad to say, but I have seen plenty of them in 2015 and If I were to give three choices of films I feel were sadly overlooked, I would say they were: Gueros (Mexico), Taxi Tehran (Iran) and A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Sweden).

Sadly, I have not seen any of the nominees for Best Documentary, but Amy sounds interesting and documentaries about musicians are always deeply fascinating 🙂 If one were to ask me, what documentaries were overlooked, I would say: Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, Hitchcock/Truffaut and Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂

While I have seen all the documentaries, I only managed to see two of the foreign titles (Mustang and Theeb). So I am pulling for Mustang to pull the upset (though I liked Theeb far more than you seem to).

I find the documentary category the most interesting this year. While Amy seems to be the front runner, and it is solid, I found myself even more engaged with Cartel Land, The Look of Silence, and Winter on Fire. Regardless, I would be fine with any of those four winning. What Happened, Nina Simone? was solid also, but not as strong as the other four nominees in my opinion.

Courtney ~ I fell in love with Mustang.. possibly one the best films I saw all year period. And I’m with you on Cartel Land. It would be my pick also, but as you noted, seems as though Amy is the front-runner. 🙂